Hopeful Arafat Eager to Negotiate With Barak

Like almost everyone else in the Middle East, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is waiting eagerly--and somewhat apprehensively--to see what the new prime minister of Israel will do when it comes to making peace with Israel’s Arab neighbors.

In an interview, the Palestinian Authority president praised his new negotiating partner, Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak, for showing “real determination” to move ahead with peace.

Barak’s victory May 17 over conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu awakened high hopes among both Israelis and Palestinians. But the Palestinians are worried that the incoming Israeli leader will sideline the search for a settlement with them to pursue a solution to long-standing conflicts with Syria and Lebanon.

Arafat, speaking at his headquarters here Wednesday night, sought to downplay these concerns.

“We are for a comprehensive peace in the Middle East--the Syrian track, the Lebanese track and the Palestinian track,” he said, suggesting that the three negotiations could complement each other.

After three years dominated by stalemate, Israel and the Palestinians have before them some of the most nettlesome unresolved issues that will go into a final settlement: borders between the two entities; the status of Jerusalem, a holy city to both sides; water rights in this desert land; and Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

With Lebanon and Syria, meanwhile, Barak appears especially keen to renew talks and reach an agreement that would pacify Israel’s last active war front. He has pledged to withdraw Israeli troops from southern Lebanon within a year, and will need an agreement with Syria, Lebanon’s master, to do so. He also must address the fate of the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War.

Arafat emphasized the notion of a “comprehensive peace” that encompasses all the parties. But given a history of enmity between the Palestinians and Syrians, this does not seem easily achievable.

The Palestinians are especially disturbed by persistent reports in the Israeli media suggesting that Barak will skip the next phases of last fall’s Wye River agreement and move directly to so-called final status talks.

The Wye agreement provided for Israel to hand over to Palestinian control an additional 13% of the West Bank. In exchange, the Palestinians would fulfill a range of security measures. Israel had only begun to withdraw its troops from the designated areas when Netanyahu suspended the agreement, focusing instead on last month’s elections and accusing the Palestinians of failing to hold up their end of the bargain.

It had been widely assumed that Barak would quickly revive the Wye agreement. Doubts have arisen, however, as he struggles to put together a coalition government after his party did not win a majority of seats in parliament.

At the same time, the Palestinians are outraged at the quickened pace of Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank, a practice sternly condemned by Washington as well.

“If Barak goes straight to the Syrian issue without completing Wye . . . and without stopping the settlements, it will be a very serious breach of our trust,” said Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian government official who accompanied Arafat in the interview.

Arafat, who turns 70 in August, was cautious in the interview, preferring to wait until Barak forms his government before speaking of details. Arafat’s health did not appear good. He seemed weak, and the now-familiar tremble in his face was pronounced. He spoke in English but frequently switched to Arabic and used a translator.

As has become the Palestinian custom, Arafat appealed to the United States to see that Barak follows through on peace agreements with the Palestinians.

“It was President Clinton who made [Wye] possible,” Arafat said. “We hope he is committed to its implementation.”

Arafat indicated that the Palestinian people are increasingly frustrated with what they see as a lack of progress in building a viable state and gaining independence. At the urging of the U.S., Arafat delayed his planned declaration of an independent state last month.

“We are doing our very best to keep the Palestinian public patient and calm,” Arafat said.